History of medical data collection in the Maltese Islands

Abstract

The collection of medical information is today an essential administrative tool, allowing the state, department or the individual practitioner to audit the prevalent practice and to assess the level of health care, identify problems and focus on priorities for improvements. These objectives can be reached by the collection of event-oriented databases that can have several levels, each with its utility status. These levels may include (1) demographic data and vital event registration, and (2) clinical event-oriented data. The move towards the collection of person-oriented medical data ensures that the collected data- base can be extended to better serve the medical needs of the individual patient.